


Spontaneous Family

by orphan_account



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Bellarke, Domestic violence (past), Drama, F/M, Fluff, Foster kids, House fire/apartment fire, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-21 13:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21075656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Bellamy had never thought much about fire safety. Correction - Bellamy had never thought much about fire safety, until the fire alarm went off at three in the morning in his third floor apartment.In a panic, he scurries for his wallet and keys, heading toward the door only to find a scared young haired girl on the other side.“Please, can you help my Mom? She isn’t waking up and I don’t know what to do.”Or: Bellamy lives down the hall from Clarke and Madi (her adopted daughter) and to keep Madi out of temporary foster care he pretends to be Madi’s dad while Clarke recovers after their apartment catches fire.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my very first fan fiction, so please be kind. I wish I could tell you what the inspiration for this story was, but I have no idea. 
> 
> I have never had an apartment fire, so please take all details with a grain of salt.
> 
> I do intend for this to be a multi-chapter fic with the first few chapters being primarily Bellamy and Madi based (family fluff and adorableness) and then Bellarke later.
> 
> Comments/Kudos/Subscriptions appreciates <3

Bellamy had never thought much about fire safety. Correction - Bellamy had never thought much about fire safety, until the fire alarm went off at three in the morning in his third floor apartment. 

Waking up from a dead sleep, creating a single coherent thought was nearly impossible. Once he was able to comprehend the nature of the situation, his second thought was how the hell do I get out of here? 

He hadn’t lived there long, only about a month. It was his first place on his own and he hadn’t really put much thought into having anything more than a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. Perhaps he should have looked for a newer apartment building, one that was up to code and required a sprinkler system. 

But it wasn’t in the budget. Bellamy worked two jobs at a local museum. One as in visitor services, helping people plan their trips and buy group ticket packages, and one doing after hours janitorial work. The two combined made ends meet, but he wasn’t living a life of luxury. Needless to say, the last thing he needed was his apartment burning down. 

He quickly grabbed his wallet and keys from the nightstand and threw them into his pajama pants pocket and went for the front door. He held his hand against the gold knob, and while he couldn’t feel any heat it appeared there was smoke sliding in from the bottom of the frame. 

Fuck. The balcony it is, then. 

He had made it about halfway across the apartment when he heard a knock at his door. 

“Help! Please, my mom isn’t waking up!” It was a child’s voice. A young girl, by the sound of it. The knocking - well, more like pounding- continued, and he didn’t think for a moment. 

Bellamy rushed to the door, and pulled his t-shirt up over his face to shield the smoke as he pulled it open. 

Smoke was filling the hallway, coming from a door two down from his own apartment. 

“Please, can you help my Mom?” The girl asked. She looked about ten years old, with dark wavy hair. Some of the smoke residue was clinging to her skin, and her eyes and nose were watering from the irritation. Bellamy recognized her as the daughter of one of his neighbors.

He had never paid too much attention to the people in his building, or even on his floor. The one person he had noticed, though, was the young blonde down the hall. Her looks were enough to draw his attention, but it was also a curiosity that she had a child she looked too young to have that also looked nothing like her. 

It wasn’t any of his business, so he never said anything about it when they ran into one another in the hall. They seemed friendly enough and there didn’t seem to be a man in the picture, but Bellamy kept things casual. Hitting on the neighbor would have been too complicated for his liking.

“What happened?” Bellamy asked her, and the girl didn’t stop to explain. She simply grabbed him by the hand and pulled him toward her apartment. The black smoke was thicker as they reached the threshold, and smelled awful. 

“Cover your face, there’s too much smoke.” He directed, anxious as to what he would find inside the apartment. It was possible the fire had overtaken the woman’s bedroom already. 

“I couldn’t wake her up!” The girl said. “My mom had a candle lit, I think. She keeps a couple of the smoke detectors covered because she accidentally burned dinner and the alarm didn’t go off until the smoke reached the one down the hall.” 

Her words spilled out of her mouth like an apology. Hey eyes were full of fear. A fear that Bellamy knew too well - the fear of losing a mother. 

“I’m going to get your Mom, but I need you to get out of here. What is your name?” Bellamy asked, kneeling down in front of the frightened child, and waving away the smoke away from them. 

“Madi,” she said softly.

“I am going to get your Mom and meet you by the big tree by the playground across the street.” He patted her back and gave her a firm nod.

Madi nodded and took off for the stairs. Bellamy pushed open their apartment door and his eyes stung from the smoke. The fire must not have spread quickly, as he could only see the thick black smoke coming from the bedroom near the kitchen. 

Maybe because everything is plastic these days. 

Thinking on his feet, Bellamy darted toward the kitchen and checked under the sink, finding a fire extinguisher. He scanned the instructions and rushed towards the bedroom, 

Pull the pin

Aim at the base of the flames

Squeeze the trigger

Sweep across the fire

The substance tackled the flames, coating the charred belongings in the thick white aerosol substance battling with the dark smoke in the air. 

Having put out the fire that had enveloped most of the bedroom, he tossed the extinguisher to the side. 

On the bed laid his beautiful blonde neighbor, tangled up in her sheets. Her skin was flushed pink, the soot from the smoke sticking to her. 

Bellamy slid his arms underneath her legs and torso, and carried her bridal style out of the apartment. For his sake and hers, he was glad that it was one of the first cool days of fall and they had both opted to wair pajamas.

His lungs were killing him just from being in the smoke for a few minutes. He coughed into his shoulder as he carried her down the stairs. The flights of stairs were usually no trouble for Bellamy - after all, he worked out regularly and was used to the climb. This time though, even the downward journey had him feeling lightheaded. 

His eyes itched, his throat burned, and his chest felt tighter than he had ever felt. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think he had asthma. 

As he neared the bottom of the stairs, Bellamy encountered a group of firefighters entering the building. Two of them fell behind, taking the unconscious woman from Bellamy’s arms while the rest went up the stairs towards the fire. He was pretty sure he had put it out, but he decided to let them be the final decision makers.

He followed the two firefighters out of the building, following closely behind them as they led them away from the potentially still-burning building. 

There were handfuls of people grouped together outside of the apartment. Aside from Madi and himself, everyone else appeared unscathed. 

“Mom!” He heard Madi yell from across the street. Another set of EMTs were on site, focused on her. She was a blur as she ran towards her mom and away from the paramedics. Tears were streaming down her face as she reached for Clarke. One of the emergency responders pulled her back. 

“Is she okay? Is she going to be okay?” she frantically asked the firefighters that had begunloading her mother onto a gurney. 

“Sweetheart, we are going to do everything we can for your mother. Right now, we need to make sure you’re okay too.” 

“But my m-“ Madi started.

“Madi, they are right. They need to focus on your mom right now. Let’s get you looked at.” Bellamy pleaded. If he felt rough, he could only imagine what a child was feeling. 

“I’m not leaving Mom.” She demanded. Bellamy wasn’t sure how to respond. After all, this wasn’t his kid and wasn’t his responsibility. Hadn’t he had enough of parenting a child while he was still one himself?

But the universe seemed to have other plans.

“Sweetheart, go with your Dad and they will get you taken care of.” The paramedic said. She looked to Bellamy. “We are going to St. John’s on Mitchell street. If they don’t take you there, you can drive up there yourself.”

Bellamy, still slightly stunned at the assumption that Madi was his child, just blinked at the woman. 

“Her name is Clarke Griffin, and she’s the best mom in the whole world. Please take care of her.” Madi told them as they loaded her mom - Clarke - into the ambulance. 

As they shut the door behind them, Madi collapsed to the ground in a puddle of tears. Bellamy, knowing exactly what to do for a distraught her young girl, reached for her and pulled her into his arms. 

“It’s going to be okay, Madi.” He said, softly rubbing her back. He had held his own sister this way too many times to count. During every fight his parents had, when she fled the funeral, and for years after the incident as Octavia endured panic attacks. 

“No it won’t, you don’t understand.” Madi sobbed into his shoulder. “If something happens to Clarke, I’ll go back into the system. I was in foster care for so long - I don’t want to go back.” 

Suddenly Bellamy understood why Madi’s features so starkly contrasted that of Clarke. Biologically, Madi wasn’t her daughter at all. 

“Madi, it’s okay. My sister and I were foster kids too.”

“Really?” She lifts her face to look at him, as if her eyes could detect any lie. He didn’t know what she had been through, but he knew plenty of other foster kids that were better at reading body language than some specialists probably were. 

“Yes.” He breathed, and picked her up off the ground, cradling her to his chest. 

“We’ll get through this, Madi. We’ll get you cleaned up, and go see Clarke. I’ll be with you the whole time.”

She nodded and wiped her tears, allowing him to pass her off into the arms of a paramedic. He sat down at the back of the ambulance, and let a paramedic look him over as well. 

Madi kept her eyes on him through their entire work up, just in case he was going to disappear if she looked away. 

Poor kid. He knew that the system was rough. Going back, even just for temporary custody, could undo so much progress. 

“Sir, I think you and your daughter are going to be just fine. I would follow up with a primary care doctor tomorrow.” Madi’s paramedic said. 

She does look a lot like me. Bellamy compared his dark curly hair to Madi’s. They even had a similar broad nose and freckles. 

I’m too young to be her Dad. It must be the beard. He had, after all, been growing it out for awhile. 

“Thank you, I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.” He says, officially taking charge of the child. 

It’s nothing you haven’t done before. He keeps telling himself. It’s only temporary. Her mom will be okay. 

“The damage isn’t too bad, but you will probably want to stay somewhere else until the smoke residue can be cleaned out of your apartment.” A firefighter says, laying a hand on Bellamy’s shoulder. 

“I think we will be spending tonight in the waiting room, but we will figure something out.” He says, and Madi gets up and hugs him tight. 

As the paramedics load up into their ambulance and the swarms of people begin to head back into their apartment building, Madi speaks up once more. 

“Thank you for saving her. She’s all I have.” Her voice wavers with insecurity. 

“Not anymore, kid. Not anymore.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CW: domestic violence (past). Hospitals. 
> 
> Bellamy and Madi wait in the waiting room for ICU visitor hours to start. A lot of backstory for Bellamy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so happy that you liked the first chapter! Thank you to those who gave kudos, comments, or bookmarked!
> 
> Here is chapter two. It is a bit shorter than the first chapter. I likely will not have a routine publishing schedule, but I will post as often as I can. 
> 
> CW: domestic violence (past). Hospitals. 
> 
> Bellamy and Madi wait in the waiting room for ICU visitor hours to start. A lot of backstory for Bellamy.

There were a lot of things in the world that Bellamy didn’t care for. That list includes not getting a full night's sleep, bad coffee, and hospitals.

Yet, his morning turned out to be a combination of all three. 

The lack of sleep and terrible coffee were more so just inconveniences. He could push through those. 

Hospitals - those were harder. The harsh fluorescent lights, stench of antiseptic and things Bellamy didn’t even want to think about were enough to make any normal person avoid a waiting room. 

But his reason was more personal. This was the same hospital his mother had died in over a decade ago, and he wasn’t ready to face that trauma head on tonight. 

It was a terrible night for him. He was only fourteen years old, and octavia was only eight. They were both too young to lose their mother. They were too young for a lot of things. 

They saw it coming. That was the worst part. Her boyfriend Carl seemed like an okay guy at first. He took his mom out for dinner every Friday, brought her flowers on her birthday. 

The violence didn’t start until after his mom was already head over heels in love with him. It began with a single fight. His mom was making dinner that night for Carl’s family. Bellamy thought that it was pretty good - his mom was an okay cook, but she wasn’t a chef. 

After Carl’s parents left the house, he started arguing with Aurora, his mom. He criticized her cooking, implied that it wasn’t sufficient for his parents and they were going to look down on him for having a terrible taste in women. 

He didn’t hit her that night. 

But he did hit her. 

The first night Carl laid hands on his mother, Bellamy was thirteen years old. His mom had driven him to the movies to meet up with some friends. He got details from Octavia. Carl thought their mom was shacking up with one of Bellamy’s friends dads. 

When his mom picked him up from the movie, he noticed bruises around her wrists and a shadow of a shiner around her left eye. 

Octavia had nightmares after that. She would dream that she was trapped under the floor, unable to help her Mom as Carl hurt her. 

Most nights Octavia would end up in his room, and she would curl up in his bean bag chair and fall asleep. 

The first time Bellamy tried to stop Carl - it didn’t end well. He thought maybe if his Mom could see how much her kids loved her, if he could scare Carl off, maybe she would be able to leave him. 

They were arguing about money that time. Bellamy was growing exponentially, and his mom had just taken both him and Octavia to get a couple pairs of jeans from the store. Carl was supposed to review all purchases before she made them. It was one of his “rules” because he thought his mom was bad with money.

Bellamy marched out into the kitchen just as Carl has wrapped his fist around his mother's throat. He would never forget the way his mom looked at him from that angle, helpless and begging him to leave the room with her eyes. 

He hit Carl. He punched him with all the strength he had in his body. 

It wasn’t enough. 

Carl put his mom down, and grabbed Bellamy by the collar of his shirt. Before Bellamy even had the chance to scramble away, Carl threw him across the room. 

His mom ran to his side to check on him, but the blow was enough to knock him out. He didn’t know what happened after that. He woke up in his bedroom with no-longer-cold cold packs. 

His mom came to him the next night. 

“Bellamy, I want you to listen to me very carefully. I do not want you to come between Carl and I ever again.” 

He tried to argue with her. He threatened to tell the police. What Carl was doing was wrong. 

“Bellamy, you don’t understand. If you call the police, they could take you and your sister away from me.” 

“Carl has buddies at the police station, sweetie. They would never believe me. He could make them take you and Octavia and I might never see you again. You and Octavia could be separated too. You have a responsibility to your sister and to me, to keep this secret.”

His responsibilities. That’s what he told himself when he heard them fight anytime thereafter. He would hide it from Octavia the best he could. He would take her out to the backyard even in the cold weather. He would take her down to the basement to help him look for a lost shirt. He would tell her they had to hide in the closet because aliens were coming. 

His sister, his responsibility. 

He repeated those same words to himself the night that Carl killed his mother. 

It didn’t seem any different than any of their fights before. They didn’t know he had bought a gun. They didn’t know he would use it. 

But he did. He shot her, and ran. They found him a couple of weeks later, hiding out at a relative's house. Apparently he didn’t have friends at the police department. It was all a bluff he told his mother so she wouldn’t tell. 

They had a neighbor too. One who heard the gunshot. One who called the police. One who took Bellamy and Octavia to see their mother while the doctors tried to save her.

She didn’t make it out of the OR alive. He didn’t even get to say goodbye.

Hospitals had been a difficult thing for him ever since. 

Madi was his only saving grace. While it was clear that she was worried about her Mom, she was a very smart kid that had an awful lot of questions for him which provided a great distraction. 

He learned a lot about her. They didn’t talk about any serious stuff, but he learned that she was ten years old and that she had lived with Clarke for two years. Red has always been her favorite color. She hates cauliflower, and loves tater tots.

She learned a lot about him, too. They had already gone over how long he had lived in their building, where he worked and what he did. Madi next round of questions was all about Octavia, who Madi seemed to find astonishingly interesting. 

“You have a sister?” She had asked when he mentioned Octavia. 

“Why you sound so surprised by that?” He laughed. 

“I’m not surprised! Maybe a little jealous though. I always wanted a sibling. Someone to share stuff with.” Bellamy recognized that sad nostalgic look in her eye, and quickly diverted her attention. 

He told her all about Octavia and how she runs a mixed martial arts and stage combat studio in D.C. He told her stuff about when they were kids too. Like how Octavia once lost him his prom date with the prettiest girl in school. 

“You never know, maybe you’ll still get one,” he said. Madi gave him a big smile at that. 

“Clarke is a really good mom. I don’t think she liked being an only child either.” 

Bellamy could tell she was starting to get tired as the adrenaline from the night faded away. Her eyes were droopy, and every time she finished a thought she couldn’t help but yawn. 

“Why do you say that?” 

Madi shrugged and set down the magazine she had been flipping through.

“Clarke didn’t have anyone to share things with either.” 

“I’m glad she has you, then.” He said softly. 

Bellamy has asked a nurse for a pillow and blanket for Madi, and it seemed like now was the time to break them out. While the hospital chairs weren’t very comfortable, he had an idea. 

He took the pillow and set it on his lap, so Madi could just curl up into his side.

She tried to stay awake, she really did, but her tiredness took over in the end. 

The nurses were checking in with Bellamy every so often. They said that Clarke had inhaled a lot of smoke and toxins, and that was the reason she wasn’t waking up. Apparently smoke inhalation can also mean she inhaled some carbon monoxide too, so they wanted to do a full work up on her.

They had to clear her airway and intubate her. She wasn’t coming around quite yet, but they were hopeful for her. 

Visiting hours were limited to only four hours per day for patients in ICU. It was five o-clock when Madi fell asleep and ICU would open for two hours starting at 6 a.m. his best bet was to let the girl rest until then, let her see Clarke, and then get her to a better place to rest. 

While Madi slept beside him, he took the liberty of checking Clarke’s Facebook page to try and learn a little more about her. After all, if anyone was to call his bluff about them being married, he had to at least know the basics.

Madi had provided some information already during their little chat. He knew that Clarke’s favorite color is blue, she eats Cheerios for breakfast almost every morning, and she is 25 years old, four years younger than himself. 

From her Facebook, Bellamy was also able to see that she worked as an art teacher and did private lessons, and that she seemed to have a pretty close group of friends. A lot of her pictures featured the same people. 

_ Wells Jaha _

_ Maya Vie _

_ Jasper Jordan _

_ Monty Green _

_ Harper Green _

Bellamy notes that she didn’t seem to have any photographs of her parents, with the exception of a memorial post about her father. 

Madi had told him there wasn’t really anyone else around, but he felt that at the very least he should try and contact some of the people that appeared to care about the woman. 

Besides, he couldn’t miss out on work to watch Madi - this was going to be a group effort, it had to be. 

And so, Bellamy found himself sending out five friend requests with messages explaining the situation. He and Clarke already had one mutual friend that was in many of her pictures too - one that was kind of surprising to him. 

_ Raven Reyes.  _

He sent her a message too, trying to forget the fact that he was texting someone he once had casual sex with. 

_ You’re doing it for Clarke.  _ He told himself.  _ You’re doing it for Madi.  _


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter we get more of Bellamy's backstory, as well as some insight into his backstory with Raven (and Murphy) and his parenting of Octavia. Fluff at the end!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Three is ready to roll!
> 
> Slight CW for: gun violence, prescription drug and alcohol abuse, mention of underage sexual activities. Let me know if you ever feel a CW is necessary for other things. 
> 
> Comments/Kudos/Bookmarks appreciated!
> 
> Also, follow me on tumblr if you'd like! my url is ahandsomefriend (the meaning of Bellamy's name).

Monty Green was the first to respond to his message. He was fucking exhausted.

Bellamy raised his hand to shield from the harsh lights and read the messages.

**Bellamy:** Hello, my name is Bellamy Blake and I live down the hall from Clarke Griffin. There was a fire in her apartment last night and her daughter and I are at the hospital now, waiting for visiting hours to open at the ICU. She inhaled a lot of the smoke. Madi is fine, but scared. She mentioned that Clarke doesn't really have a family - so I thought I would message the people she seemed close with on Facebook. 

**Monty:** Clarke is one of my best friends - we are her family. Did you message anyone else? What hospital are you at? It isn't Glenview is it? 

**Bellamy: ** No, we are at St. John's in the ICU waiting room. I messaged a few other people that she seemed to be friends with . Raven Reyes, your wife Harper, Wells Jaha, Maya Vie, and Jasper Jordan. 

**Monty: ** They are probably still asleep. I wake up early for work. I will call them and let them know what is going on, and we will be down there as soon as we can. 

**Bellamy: ** Thanks, man. See you soon. 

Bellamy was glad that Monty replied first, he seemed like a really nice guy. He wondered if all of Clarke's friends would be as nice as he was. 

Well, maybe not Raven. 

Raven Reyes was a rough-around-the-edges type of girl, the one you were both amazed by and scared of at the same time. Bellamy had met her when he was in high school - god, that seemed like so long ago. 

She used to hang around him and Murphy. They were all in the system at the same time and ended up at a lot of the same functions put on by the department of family services. What is better to bond over than your trauma, right?

He and Murphy were still friends, and Murphy had ended up pretty alright. He got lucky - it seemed they all did. Murphy started working at 14 in the kitchen at a local diner. Today he was working as an established chef at one of the nicest restaurants in town. Food (and sarcasm with a pinch of passive aggression) had always been his crutch of choice. 

Murphy's therapist attributed it to the fact that Murphy often went hungry as a kid. At one point, he thought he might starve to death. Having food close by is comforting, or something like that. 

His story wasn't too different from that of Bellamy's. His Mom had died too, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. Except his mother died of pneumonia. Murphy blamed himself for her death though, just as Bellamy did with Aurora. Murphy had gotten sick first. 

As if that wasn't already a shitty situation, Murphy's dad was terrified that he would lose his son too. He didn't have the money for the medical bills and medication, and his wife didn't have life insurance so he stole a bunch of pills from the pharmacy inside the convinience store he worked at. His intent was likely to sell them and earn money for his desperate situation. His dad panicked and shot the pharmacist during the robbery. What would have been maybe 15 years in prison was suddenly a lifetime felony murder conviction. 

Raven's story was a little less dramatic. Raven, like Bellamy, never knew her Dad. Her mother was a single parent working to make a living. It was hard paying the bills and keeping up with a kid all on her own. Like so many people, she turned to the comfort of alcohol and drugs to console her, leaving Raven to be independent at a young age. 

Raven was with her mother for a long time before child services took over. It wasn't until her mother overdosed in her car one afternoon and was found by a co-worker that people realized the extent of the problem. She learned how to take care of herself - and that was something that stuck with her to this day. Along with her knack for fixing and tinkering with things. 

Raven's therapist said that it's because she couldn't fix her mother. For a long time he thought that Raven and Murphy would get together. In fact, the night that Raven came to him needing to get Finn off of her mind, he almost thought to ask her why she didn't seek out Murphy. 

But he knew the reason - Murphy was dealing with some tough shit at the time, and crawling into his bed would have been too complicated. Bellamy, on the other hand was sleeping his way though the senior class and was perfectly capable of having unattached one-night flings.

They didn't talk about it after that night. Raven was hurt pretty bad by Finn, and threw herself into her schoolwork. She started hanging around geekier kids and led the robotics club. She graduated at the top of the class. 

He wasn't suprised at all to see that she had started an internship with NASA. 

Go figure. 

Together the three of them were a perfect harmony of hardships. 

He looked down at Madi, resting beside him. He wondered what her hardships had been. 

It was never appropriate to ask, that was something he had learned long ago. It was like walking up to someone with stitches and ripping them out. You just didn't do it. 

She seemed like such a happy kid, it broke his heart to know that at such a young age she had already experienced so much. That she had already lost so much. 

She reminded him so much of Octavia. 

Octavia was only a kid when everything happened with their mother. Bellamy found himself being a makeshift father, trying to teach Octavia everything she needed to know, be there for her in every situation, and keep her from all the bad in the world. He was over-protective. That was something he had heard a hundred times. 

His case manager was able to keep them together until Bellamy turned 18. Not all of their foster parents were bad...they just never quite felt like home. Bellamy and Octavia were relatively good kids - they just were too much for some people to handle. 

Octavia's nightmares never stopped, and some people like to sleep. Bellamy struggled with attendance at school. Bellamy argued with his foster parents about what was best for him and Octavia. When Octavia hit her pre-teens, she started acting out and hanging around a not-so-great crowd. 

Bellamy had started working the second he could get his hands on a work permit. Octavia hated him for being gone so much, and that was part of why she had started retreating into her own group of friends and their influences. He started by picking up a job at the library every day after work. He reshelved books and cleaned for the most part, but he also did tutoring and helped some of the older patrons with the computers. It wasn't an amazing job, but he was able to work a full 25 hours a week from the time he was 15 until he turned 18. 

He was able to work about fifteen hours per week during the school year, and in the summer he picked up a second job working at a car wash to be more of a full time schedule. 

He saved up a total of about $20,000. It was enough for one of two things. 

  1. He could go to University like so many of the other students were doing. 

  1. He could become his sister's legal guardian. 

Everyone knew which one Bellamy would pick. He spent a few thousand dollars on a car, a little extra on insruance. He paid for an apartment in full for a year, bought some pretty basic furnishings. He kept a little extra as a nest egg for emergencies. It was enough to prove that he had the very basic essentials to keep a his siter with him. 

Octavia loved it at first. She liked the fact that it was just the two of them, family. She threw herself into making their apartment feel like home and Bellamy was so proud of her. 

It wasn't until he caught her with Atom that things started going downhill. He wasn't an idiot, he knew that eventually his little sister wouldn't be so little anymore, but that didn't mean he was going to let her sneak out to hang out with her friends at eleven on a school night, or that he was going to be happy about finding a boy in her bedroom when he came home early from work one day. 

From then on, it was like Octavia couldn't stand being around her brother. She hated that he controlled where she went, what she did, and who she saw. As she so often put it, "You're not my father, Bellamy!"

It was a roller coaster from there, of Bellamy trying to convince Octavia to do what he thought was best for her. When she turned 18 he lost a lot of his leeway on her decision making, and Octavia took advantage of that. She was twenty four now, and despite his best efforts, he could never convince her to go to college. 

She ended up just fine, though. She found a boyfriend that was a year older than Bellamy, which Bellamy wasn't very fond of. They had been together for a few years, and Octavia had been taking martial arts classes for a long time and Lincoln was an expert at it. It was how they met, actually. 

Octavia had decided a year ago that she was going to start a studio with Lincoln and that they were going to move to the city. Bellamy hated that idea. He didn't have much of a family, and he didn't want his sister moving out of Arcadia. 

But he had to relent. She wasn't a scared eight year old girl anymore. She was a grown woman with passions and dreams that he was impeding. 

So he let her leave. 

And that's how he ended up in the same apartment complex as Clarke and Madi. He had decided to downsize since his apartment with Octavia just felt so...empty. 

  
  


Bellamy's phone started to chime, alerting him and Madi that visiting hours had started. Madi's eyes crinkled as she rolled over into Bellamy. 

Sleepyhead. 

As much as he wanted to let the poor girl sleep, he had learned a lot about headstrong young ladies and knew that if he let her sleep through her time with Clarke, she was going to hold a grudge about it. 

"Hey Madi, it's time to check and see if we can see Clarke. You 'gotta wake up." He said softly, shaking her by the shoulder. Her bleary eyes looked up at him for a moment, before his words registered and she sparked back to life. 

"Clarke!" She said, scrambling to her feet. "Come on Bellamy, what are you waiting for?" 

He quickly followed suit, striding behind her as she directed them to the nurses station. 

"Clarke Griffin, please." She asked politely, and the nurse checked her chart. 

"Only two visitors at a time. What are your names and relation to the patient?" 

"Madi Griffin, I'm her daughter." 

Bellamy was stumped for a moment. Madi had created a rather elaborate lie about her being his child. He took a moment to consider whether he should say his name was also Griffin, but opted against it. Kids had different names than a parent all the time. 

"Bellamy Blake." 

"He's my dad" Madi cut in. 

_ Yup. What she said.  _

"She is in room 113, down at the end of the hall." 

Madi grabbed Bellamy's hand and led him down the hall to see her mother, and Bellamy imagined what Clarke Griffin would think of this odd situation. 

Would she be upset that her daughter had lied?

Would she be mad that Bellamy went along with it?

He braced himself as Madi opened the door to her hospital room, but let out his breath when he caught sight of Clarke. 

She was still resting. The nurses had cleaned her up and she was comfortably tucked in to the hospital bed. They still had her intubated, and on oxygen.

"Mom..." Madi said softly, her voice breaking. "I am right here. It's me. Madi."

Madi climbed up onto the foot of the bed, sitting with her legs crossed. 

"You'll get through this. I know you will." She went on. "You're a Griffin, and we always survive."

Bellamy wondered what else Clarke and Madi had survived. What chain of events had brought this pair into his life. 

"When you wake up, there's someone I want you to meet. His name is Bellamy, and he's not a firefighter but I think he could be. He lives in our apartment building and he saved you." 

"I don't think I saved her, Madi. The fire department was almost there." Bellamy chided in.

"Apparently he is humble too." Madi said with a laugh. 

Bellamy sat down in a chair at the opposite side of the room and made himself comfortable as Madi talked to Clarke. She told her mom all about the fire fighters, the nice nurse that gave her the blanket, and repeated some of Bellamy's details about Octavia. 

"She teaches like, karate and stuff! Wouldn't it be so cool if I could take a class there some time?"

When she ran out of things to tell her, she went on tangents. 

" I had a dream once. I was lost and alone, and you found me. You took me in and made me a home. That's not so different from real life, is it? Except we don't have to catch fish with spears for dinner. Can you imagine? You can hardly make fish sticks!"

Bellamy found his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier as he nodded off in his chair.

"I think he's sleeping, Mom. I hope you like him. I know you've never needed a prince charming to rescue you, but this one isn't so bad."

He couldn't help but smile at that.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy meets Clarke’s friends. Banter ensues.

A ringing in his pocket woke Bellamy up from his short nap. God, I need sleep. 

His blurry vision cleared as he blinked at the harsh lighting in the room. It was none other than Monty Green, calling him on Facebook. 

“Hello,” he answered, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He scanned the room for Madi, and found that she had fallen asleep at the foot of Clarke’s bed. 

Adorable. 

“Hey Bellamy, it’s Monty. The crew and I are out in the waiting room - they won’t let us back there.” Bellamy nodded, before realizing that Monty couldn’t see him.

“Visitors are limited to two at a time, and Madi is resting.” He whispered, and glanced at the time on his phone before bringing it back to his ear. “I’m going to let her stay here and rest, visiting hours are almost over anyhow. See you in a minute.” 

Bellamy didn’t wait for a reply and ended the call, taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the weight of sleep deprivation on his body. He still reeked of smoke, was still in nothing other than his pajamas. Nausea was scratching at his stomach and his eyes were still itching. 

I need a shower, and some fucking breakfast. 

Bellamy closed the door behind him as he left Clarke’s room. Slipping past a few nurses doing rounds in the hall, he weaved his way back towards the waiting area where the small crowd greeted him. 

He wasn’t kidding when he said the whole crew was here. Jesus. 

“Well, I’ll be damned. It’s a small world after all, Blake.” Raven jabbed, greeting him with an unexpected hug. 

“Tell me about it. How have you been?” Bellamy started, before he was cut off. 

“Ah, ah, ah.” The blonde interjected. “Not the time. Let’s talk about how Mr. Hero here wound up with custody of a ten year old at the hospital.” 

“Harper, please.” Monty scolded. 

“I’m just saying, it’s a little weird that we have never heard of this guy before and suddenly Madi and him are alone? What if he was a pervert?” She defended herself, which in turn made Raven snort. 

“Let’s take a breath.” She chimed in. “I know Bellamy. We went to school together. Total lady-killer….don’t ask. Anyway, he was probably crashing at Clarke’s place, a little late night rendezvous if you know what I mean.” A wink, of course, was added for extra effect. 

“Good for Clarke! She needs to get herself out there.” The dark haired girl - Maya, said. 

“Agreed!” Jasper, offered her a high five. 

“No, that’s not at all how this happened.” He blurted out, eager to dispell this crazy thinking before it got out of hand. 

“Let’s hear the story then, Blake.” Raven nudged him, and he rolled his eyes, seating himself in yet another uncomfortable chair. 

“Clarke is my neighbor. I don’t know her all that well, but Madi came to my door for help when the fire started. I told Madi to get out of the building while I went for Clarke -” 

“You went into a burning bedroom for her, but you don’t know her?” Raven asked accusingly. 

“That’s what I said.” He continued. “The fire department got there a few minutes later, she was unconcsious. The nurses say she inhaled a lot of smoke, she’s still not awake. Madi is fine.” Upon finishing, the group took a moment to evaluate his story before continuing their investigation. 

“So you don’t know Madi?” Harper asked. 

“No, we sort of just met today.”

“And the police department or fire department just let you keep Clarke’s daughter?” 

“Uh… they didn’t really know.” 

“So you lied to them?” She was starting to raise her voice. Monty gently held her back by the elbow.

“That’s not what -”

“Guys, chill. Bellamy is a good guy, okay? I know you care about Madi, Harper. We all do. Let him finish.” Raven cut in, and he was grateful he had made the decicion to include her in his messages. 

“Madi has been telling everyone I am her Dad, and some people just assumed. She told me she’s in the system and was afraid she would be put in temporary custody if something happened to Clarke.” 

“So she didn’t want to end up in temporary care, with a stranger….weird how that is basically what happened here.”

“Harper...Bellamy and I were in the system together. Give him a break. You don’t know what it’s like.”

That finally seemed to be the hint Harper needed to lay off of her inquisition. 

“Sorry, Bellamy. Harper is quite the mother bear right now...we are expecting our first. Instincts, you know?” Harper gave him a gentle whack for that. 

“I am more than my horomones!” She defended.

“Anyway, where is the munchkin?” Maya said, redirecting the conversation to a less sensitive subject, and Bellamy pointed back behind him. 

“She’s still with Clarke. Fell asleep on the bed in there, I couldn’t wake her, we have hardly slept tonight.” 

“That’s obvious.” Raven retorted, gesturing to his bed head and pajamas. 

“Listen, Reyes, I didn’t message you all so that you could harp on my fashion choices. I messaged you because you’re Clarke’s family - sort of, and Madi is all alone.”

“Not quite alone, she had you.” Jasper chided. 

“Yes, but as we have established, I, a practical stanger, should probably not be left in charge of her.” As much as he liked Madi, he had a job, obligations, and nowhere for her to sleep. Hell, he didn’t even know if their apartment complex was going to be letting him back in this morning. 

“I’d trust you more than I trust Jasper.” said Raven, which started a whole new spout of arguing. 

“Guys, seriously. Visiting hours end in twenty minutes. I need to know what to tell Madi. She’s going to want to stay with Clarke, but the kid hasn’t had breakfast, needs a shower, and serious sleep. Also, it’s a school day. Someone needs to call her in.” 

“Okay, Dad.” Jasper rolled his eyes. 

“You are such a Dad, Bellamy. How is Octavia?” he ignored Raven, and tried to get them back on track once again. 

“Who can take her?” 

Silence. 

“Well, I can’t. I work so much I practically sleep at the office. Madi can’t be alone that much.” 

Okay, not Raven. 

“I would, but I am sort of sleeping on Harper and Monty’s couch right now.” 

Not Jasper. 

“I still live with my Parents and siblings...probably not the best for me either.”

Or Maya. 

“I guess that leaves Harper and I.” Monty said, reaching for Harper’s hand. “It will be good practice for us.”

“We both have work, though. Someone needs to pick Madi up after school in the afternoons and keep her until we get home.” Harper reminded him. “Any takers?”

Silence. 

“I can do it.” Bellamy decided. “I work two jobs, and I can work mornings and late evenings.” 

“Are you sure?” Well, it’s not like anyone else is jumping at the chance to babysit. 

“It’s not a big deal. I took care of my sister Octavia for years and she’s turned out pretty okay.” Bellamy laughed. “I can pick her up from school and we can stop by the hospital to check on Clarke, once she is out of ICU.”

“Which hopefully is soon.” Maya whispered, as if she suddenly remembered their close friend was incapacitated. 

“It’s decided then. Who wants breakfast?” Jasper said.

“Do you think about anything else?” Harper teased. 

“Yeah, but those two things are not appropriate for the hospital.” He said as he pantomimed smoking a joint and swatted Maya’s butt.

“Oh my god, Jasper.” Maya shoved him. 

“That’s my cue to leave…” Raven announced, but was quickly stopped.

“Let’s all get breakfast together. The kid needs some support right now. C’mon Reyes. It will take an hour.” 

“Fine. But we are going to IHOP!” 

Bellamy left them to battle about which restaurant they wanted to go to and sat up to go retrieve Madi. 

What a weird group of friends. Bellamy wondered what link brought this hodge podge bundle of people together. They all seemed so different. Raven harsh and sarcastic. Harper, loving and protective. Jasper, the joker. Maya seemed like the sensitive type. Monty, the level-headed one. I wonder where Clarke fits into their group…

As the door cracked open, he saw Madi wiping tears from her eyes. 

She was just pretending to be strong. 

The creaking of the door gave him away, and Madi bolted upright, quickly hiding her tears from his line of sight. 

“Bellamy! Where did you go?” She asked, her voice as brittle as her emotions. 

“There’s some people here to see you.” He said. Her eyes went wide and she backed up into the corner of the room. 

“Bellamy you said you wouldn’t make me go back!” The hurt was evident in her voice, and tears continued to fall from her eyes. 

“No, kiddo. That’s not what…fuck. Wait forget I said that.” Scrambling to regain control of the situation, he took a deep breath.

“I called Clarke’s friends. Raven, Monty, Harper, Jasper, and Maya.” 

The poor girl took a visible sigh of relief. 

“I’m suprised they came...they have been mad at Clarke. I haven’t seen them in a while.” She admitted, and sat back on the edge of Clarke’s bed. 

“How come?” he asked, feeling only the slightest bit bad for intruding on Clarke’s private life. 

“I don’t really know. Grown up stuff, I guess.” She shrugged, and reached for Clarke’s hand, holding it tight. 

“Do I really have to leave her?” She whispered, voice breaking along with Bellamy’s heart. 

He walked over to the side of the bed, and gently put a comforting hand on Madi’s back. As if a dam had burst, she turned and cried into his shirt.

“She’s my Mom, Bellamy. She’s going to be all alone here without me.” Bellamy didn’t know how to comfort her. The fear of losing her mother was too raw for him. He couldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. Not to her. 

“I don’t know Clarke,” he started, hoping that these words would be comfort enough. “But I think that Clarke is amazing. Do you know why?” 

“Why?” She whispered. 

“Because Clarke is your mother, and I think you are pretty damn great, kid. You know what else I think? I think that Clarke is a very strong woman. I think she is a fighter, just like you.” 

“You really think so?” Her big blue eyes looked up at him, desperate for answered. 

“I do. I really think so.”

Madi hugged him as tight as he thinks was physically possible for her. 

“I am really glad you’re our neighbor, Bellamy.” 

“Me too, kid. Me too.” 

He let Madi say a quick goodbye to her mother before guiding her back down the hall. 

“Oh my god.” She stopped in her tracks in the middle of the hall.

“What’s the matter, kid?”

“Please, please, PLEASE tell me I am not staying with Uncle Jasper.” Bellamy couldn’t help but laugh at that.


End file.
